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Craigslist’s Revenue Up 101%; Measuring Its Impact

There have been several game changers in local. One is Google search. Another is Yelp reviews. Another has got to be Craigslist.

Craigslist started out as a totally free community site focused on recruitment. In recent years, it has incrementally added paid sections – partly to make them more manageable – and it is beginning to make real money from these. According to “conservative” estimates compiled by our friends at AIM Group for its annual Craigslist report, the site’s revenues grew 101 percent in 2013 from $166.5 Million to $335.7 Million.

While Craigslist now serves 700 markets around the world, AIM Group says the vast majority of the revenue comes from 54 markets. The dollars largely come from Craigslist’s affordable fees for recruitment in 28 markets, and its auto ads, which were just introduced in 4Q 2013. AIM estimates that 79 percent of Craigslist’s revenue comes from recruitment; 16 percent comes from autos; and the remaining five percent coming from things like “therapeutic” listers in New York City. The site’s fees range from $5 to $75.

Yet, the site stays true to its roots as an altruistic community resource by not charging for “private party” person to person ads – recruitment ads are just charged to agencies and companies; and auto ads are just charged to dealers.

The question we’ve asked in the past is whether Craigslist is vulnerable. It still seems easy enough to produce a better classifieds site. eBay Classifieds – started after eBay was unable to take over Craigslist — is a much better site in terms of user experience, with links to social media, easy photo uploads, etc.

To be sure, Craigslist is — as AIM notes — “the same drab user experience” as it has always been. Under the hood, however, AIM notes that Craigslist has finally started improving the site. Suddenly, listings are mapped; there are new ways of searching for goods and services; there is a picture gallery view; and even a way to save thumbnail photos. Moreover, by imposing fees on dealer auto ads, it has become easier to find autos for sale — spam entries have been significantly cut back.

Does all this suggest that Craigslist is now poised to become a state-of-the-art site that truly serves the needs of its users as we move into the mobile age? Not necessarily. But Craigslist has probably done enough to keep its critical mass of listers, and users.